27 June 2011

This is the pasta salad I made for a church cookout this weekend. It was a big hit. I got the recipe from last month's Food Network Magazine. It was an article about "Mix and Match Pasta Salad." You choose whatever kind of pasta, proteins, veggies, mix-ins, and dressing you like and it tells you how much of each to use. Here's how I made mine.

The magazine didn't say how many servings it makes. But on my box of pasta, it says 1 lb. serves 8, so 4 is my best guess. I quadrupled the recipe for the church cookout. I used the microwave to blanch the carrots and peas. I use The Pampered Chef's microcooker, but if you don't have one of those, put the veggies in a bowl, add water, and cover with plastic wrap. Cook the peas and the carrots seperately. The peas will only take about 2 minutes, while the carrots can take up to 5 minutes, depending on how thick your matchsticks are. Be careful not to overcook the peas. The reason they are in there is because I love how sweet they are when they pop when you bite into them.

I know some people like their pasta salad a little creamier than this. If that's you, multiply the dressing ingredients by one and half.

This is a really easy recipe that will taste really good at all of those Fourth of July cookouts you're invited to!

Wow, that was rude! I agree that this pasta salad is similar to that variety of Suddenly Salad, but this is homemade. If you make the recipe as I have written it above, you will get the exact same results as my picture. Maybe you should have tried it before making this comment. I really don't appreciate you assuming that I lied about making something.